Finally Getting Fit

Today I was having fun exploring what is turning into a massive blog roll list over at the Healthy You Challenge. (Looking for some support? Your guaranteed to find it there!) I had a lot of lovely people stop by and comment on my last post, so I figured I’d pay some of the weight loss blogger love forward.

I was reading on Irish Mom’s blog – Little Boy Blue and a Redhead Too – where she wrote:

“I just saw a commercial (not sure for what) where people comment on how life would change if I lost the weight….

What would you do?? Or what did you do when lost significant weight??”

That got me thinking as well.

While Irish Mom has pretty much said it all as far as what I would do, I got to thinking about a few things of my own I would add on.

~I would start planning for having a baby. (I’m currently saving money, but nothing else.)
~I would be able to keep up with my husband.
~I would finally find and buy ‘the little black dress.

So what would you do?

As per usual, easier said than done.

It’s easy enough to say that you should lose weight for you. To live longer, to look better, to feel better about yourself. But more often than not, it’s difficult to start a diet with ‘for me’ in mind.

Why? Because many overweight people just don’t care that much about themselves.

Unlike what a lot of the skinnier population seems to think, being overweight is not always just a matter of “I’m a glutton”. There are mental, emotional, and psychological components all adding up to a lack of not caring about the value of one’s own life.

There are many reasons for ‘do it for you’ not being quite enough to get you busting to go to the gym.

So what can you do if ‘do it for you’ just doesn’t cut it?

Try making a list of the people closest to you. (Even if they don’t exist. My future daughter, not even conceived yet, has been a big motivator for me in the past.) You can use that as a list of motivators.

Not really close to many people? I know how you feel. The next step is to make a list of reasons you want to lose the weight. Even things like the little black dress/suit of your dreams.

It’s entirely possible that you’ll find you have lists of things that aren’t quite the ‘bottom line’ to get you to start changing your life. However, if you wait for motivation, it’s possible that you’ll never lose weight.

Sometimes it’s a matter of doing it and the motivation will come.

Speaking of hitting rock bottom, I was reminded of something Richelo Killian said on my old blog that I think needs to be noted here.

“You don’t have to reach rock bottom to get the kick up the backside to reach your goals. You just have to get in the mindset of someone that has hit rock bottom.”

Very, very true.

Long before I decided to do all this, I wondered what my rock bottom would be. What it would be and when I would get there. I was worried that it would come when I was 300 pounds or more and then I’d have that much more weight to lose.

The thing is, Richelo is right - you don’t have to hit your actual rock bottom. You need to decide you’ve hit rock bottom and go from there.

One day when my husband and I were walking home from the mall, I noticed I began feeling uncomfortable when I was walking. Then I realized I had back fat, which I had never had before. I stopped, turned to my husband, and told him, “I think I’m reaching rock bottom. I have back fat. I can’t believe I have back fat.”

I was a bit upset at noticing it, but I wasn’t upset enough to really get into that rock bottom mindset. But then…

My husband and I were walking off and met up with our neighbors. We had some food for them (my husband and I try to not eat anything with a lot of numbers listed in the ingredients, which presents a problem when we win things), and they were eager to chat. The wife, who was eight months pregnant at the time, turned to me and asked if I had a lot of problems with vomiting (morning sickness).

I looked at her, confused, and said, “No.”

Awkward silence.

She hastily said something like she thought I was someone else, and my husband and I left soon after. Needless to say, I was a bit upset about it.

Now, I could have drowned my sorrows in the box of chocolates the neighbors left outside our door as a thank-you for the food, but as my husband and I were walking, I decided that was my rock bottom. I decided I wouldn’t take it anymore. I could take it longer, certainly, but I wouldn’t.

I was going to lose weight.

I want to make it known that I could have just as easily ate my sorrows away or ignored the comment, but I chose the other way instead.

I decided on my rock bottom. I didn’t let it decide on me.

My husband and I were walking home last night and talked about hitting rock bottom.

It’s long been touted that only when you hit rock bottom – when you are completely broken and bruised – only then can you truly turn your life around. It’s when religious people have seen the light, people have lost weight, stopping drinking, and whatever else. Ah, rock bottom, that glorious (?) state of mind.

But is that really true? Do you have to hit rock bottom to change your life?

No. No, no, no and again, no.

The thing about hitting rock bottom is that you can decide what your ‘rock bottom’ is if you need that label to start changing your life. But if you don’t need the label, good on you. You’re fine if you do, but you also have to realize that you might be using “I haven’t hit rock bottom yet” to keep yourself from starting on your weight loss journey.

When I decided to renew my weight loss efforts this year, it wasn’t because something had happened to break me apart. I was fine. Overweight, with issues, but I could have still gone a long way before hitting that metaphorical wall.

I decided on the change. I decided the new year was a fine time to start and that was that.

If you want to take some control in your life, don’t let rock bottom choose you. Make today your rock bottom. Choose today that you are too important to keep living as is and renew/start on your weight loss journey.

We’re all in this together.

I was getting dressed to go out yesterday - something I actually do with a bit of pleasure now - and I stood in front of the mirror for a bit to look at myself. My pants are a little loose - just enough for me to notice. The shirt I was wearing was no longer a little too tight.

I thought for a while that I don’t look horribly overweight. I wondered what I would have looked like had I kept on gaining weight, which was easy for me to imagine because I know where my weight goes when I gain.

I didn’t like that track of thinking, so I tried to imagine what I’ll look like when I lose weight by pulling my shirt tight, running my hands down my sides to try to accentuate my curves, and even poking and prodding at my face a bit to see what changes might happen there as the weight goes.

It was a good experience for me, and I found myself smiling. I then realized what one of my problems in the past was.

I had always avoided mirrors for the most part because I didn’t like myself or the way I looked. Since coming to live with my husband and him showing me he loves me no matter what, I began liking myself a bit more. If someone could love me as much as he does, then there must be something worth loving.

It’s been a long road to learn to like myself, a road I’m still on, but I know that’s an element in getting healthy that I had been missing.

If you love someone, you’re more than willing to help them and get the best for them. If you don’t like someone, you’re far less inclined to do anything to better his/her live.

Do you see what I’m getting at?

One of the reasons I was never motivated to lose weight before is because I never liked myself all that much so I never really had a vested interest in my own good. Diet and exercise was torture because it was like bringing flowers and nice things to someone I really didn’t like every day.

So if you’re having a hard time getting motivated to start losing weight, try to consider it might be because you’re not particularly interested in you as a person or you might not like yourself all that much to keep going with a weight loss plan.